1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing a service to an electronic device that is located within a close distance.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent development of digital technologies, various types of electronic devices are widely used, such as a mobile communication terminal, a smart phone, a tablet personal computer (PC), a personal digital assistant (PDA), an electronic note, a notebook, a wearable device, and an Internet of Things (IoT) device. Various beacon-based services are now provided using Bluetooth™ Low Energy (BLE). For example, a push notification service is provided that informs of shopping information based on such services as the traffic line of a user, a proximity service (ProSe), and a location based service (LBS), such as location-based information delivery service.
To support various beacon-based services, a beacon device may support cellular communication, wireless fidelity communication (WiFi), and short-range wireless communication, such as Bluetooth (BT) communication or BLE communication. Various similar types of beacon devices, such as an IoT device, may coexist within limited spaces which correspond to various beacon-based services. In the space where beacon devices are installed or in the environment around the space, many user equipments may coexist, which receive various beacon-related services through the beacon devices, such as electronic devices. In the space where the beacon devices and user equipments exist or the environment around the space, there may exist wireless communication devices, such as an access point (AP) for wireless communication services, such as WiFi.
Recently, connectionless-based BLE is mostly used as the connectivity technology that determines approach and discovery between a beacon device and a user equipment. For example, a countless number of beacon devices and wireless communication devices may be installed together in an adjacent store and a section in the store. The beacon devices and the wireless communication devices may be used for forming the internal map of a building or for recognizing the location of the user equipment and providing an additional service.
When various types of devices that use a plurality of nonlicensed bands, such as bands used by BT, BLE, WiFi, or ZigBee coexist, interference may occur between a user equipment and a beacon device, such as a cellular/long term evolution (LTE) signage, a machine to machine (M2M) device, or the like as an IoT device) that is provided by a predetermined manager/provider, the interference being due to other beacon devices or wireless communication devices. For example, an existing beacon device fixedly uses a channel that broadcasts an advertising packet and a broadcasting period. In this instance, the frequency that the beacon device uses may overlap the frequency of another device, such as a wireless communication device, a user equipment, and the like) that has a strong transmission power. Therefore, the beacon device may have difficulty in avoiding interference caused by other devices around the beacon device, and may have difficulty in efficiently performing data transmission and discovery with respect to the user equipment. For example, beacon devices may share a channel with a wireless communication device existing around the beacon devices, and thus, interference may increase. When a large number of beacon devices and wireless communication devices exist around a user equipment, the user equipment may continuously receive a large number of beacon signals and wireless communication signals, and thus, the amount of battery power consumed may increase.